Q: It seems that you were filming a drama in Korea, but what were the difficulties?
Because the filming lasted from January to June, I felt it so long. In Korea, usually filming is ongoing while the drama is being broadcasted. It is different from Japan since the schedule becomes much harder (in Korea), and the nature is almost like live broadcast drama. Yet in my case, the drama was produced in advance, so it wasn’t that hard. However, because there was filming everyday, it was tough to maintain physically. I had to maintain my health in a different way from when I was doing my activities as an artist, but it was hard to get used grasping the rhythm because it was my first experience filming a television drama. Although filming location was mainly done at Jeju Island, I had to travel back and forth Seoul – Jeju Island for work as well travel occasionally to Japan. It was a little tough to travel back and forth so often.Q: Is it true that Yunho came to support you at your filming location?
Yes, he came twice. Once was with company staffs, another was with his friends and they came all of sudden, that made me really surprised. He always gets too high in emotion, and I was worried if it (his loud voice and laugh) would bother other staffs since I myself was not yet accustomed to the filming atmosphere. Of course I was glad that he came, as it was neither in Seoul or in Japan but still he specially traveled to Jeju Island for me. But !! There wasn’t anything more of it in my feeling (laughs), hence after that time, I begged Yunho saying “Don’t come to the filming location without appointment!!”Q: To Changmin, what is the difference between an artist, actor, and a model?
Singing lasts in 3-4 minutes of a song, carrying forward the feeling of the song… how do you call it… development progress? Having such thing, to depict a complete story. Acting is a performance of joy and sorrow in between 40 minutes to 1 hour of time, of course there are extreme feelings and also delicate change of feelings that will appear in life, which no doubt have to be presented in details, and to me, is much more difficult than singing. For modeling, it is different from singing and acting, as (the feeling) is not directly conveyed, instead it’s captured in a photograph, we have to match both the expression and clothing to show the concept to everyone, this kind of photographing is really difficult.
However, regardless of which work, there is a common trait of expressing feelings. While since young, I have been very shy, so things such as communicating with others which I am not good at, all of these to me are not simple. But recently I have changed quite a lot, during this period when I started the route as an actor that is accompanied with many troubles, should I set up limit for myself, I came across this kind of things more often.Q: What kind of life do you want to construct now?
Now I’m not like one before when I was still releasing singles and albums, living a very busy life. Until today, I have been working every day, but now that the work load suddenly decreased, sometimes I feel lonely. All these years I’ve lived a busy life, yet suddenly finding myself with so much spare time, I’m really not used to it. However, if there’s a solution (to overcome this problem), no matter how stressful, even if nothing will change, in the beginning I thought “Forget it, no need to worry, things will work out” , this kind of thought is now being flipped over ever since.
In this kind of life, the chance to be able to enjoy myself and to let myself grow do still exist, and with thoughts like this, right now I am learning a lot of things. Among all, the one I’m passionate the most is boxing. Even though I only started because people around me recommended it, but it really takes away stress, it’s an activity in which you can fee a lot of happiness! Whether it’s my upper body or lower body, instead of saying I have grown more muscles, I should say the muscles now have a more firm feeling. Other than that, whether it’s acting, singing, or dancing, I’m still learning a lot. I would always go to the boxing practice range!! To me, time like this, is worth to be cherished now.Q: What do you usually do at home?
Listening to music, then sleeping (laugh). I also really like to read. Recently I’m reading Haruki Murakami’s new work called ‘IQ84′. Before that I read Shuichi Yoshida’s works. Right now I’m borrowing books from my manager!!Q: Where is your favorite location/place?
Basketball court! I go about twice every week. With Yunho and the manager, three against three. Even though I’m not that skilled, but I like sports that can make me sweating. Since the place is like a public park, it opens 24 hours. It’s not only basketball, my bowling skills is much better than in the past. The points now, when I’m in good condition, is about 150 points. In average is around 120~130 points. Before, this was impossible!! Other than thinking why were bowling balls so heavy, I didn’t bring any interest when playing (laugh)Q: We want to hear Changmin sings soon.
I have been practicing, listening to the songs of artists I like, I would try to imitate and learn the artist’s little habits and sound methods. When I’m doing this, I can practice on parts that I feel like “ah, that’s the part I’m still not good at”. Recently I’ve been into bands. Not only Korean singers, but Japanese, European and American, I love them all. Recently the best song for me is Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Even though I can’t sing this song that well but this is a song I really like and have been listening to it occasionally.